Balanced propeller operating mechanism for vessel



3 Sheets-Sheet l A. W. WANZER BALANCED PROPELLER OPERATING MECHANISM FORVESSEL 3 49 llh-------- |i g5""-" "E g-2 fi-T-F ol o w CM firm/away July2.4, 1956 Filed Jan. 27, 1955 July 24, 1956 A. w. WANZER 2,755,765

BALANCED PROPELLER OPERATING MECHANISM FOR VESSEL Filed Jan. 27, 1955 3Sheets-Sheet 2 ofiwyaim HTTOR/VEY July 24, 1956 A. w. WANZER BALANCEDPROPELLER OPERATING MECHANISM FOR VESSEL 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Jan. 27,1955 United States Patent BALANCED PROPELLER OPERATING MECHA- NISM FORVESSEL Arthur W. Wanzer, Hingham, Mass.

Application January 27, 1955, Serial No. 484,375

4 Claims. (Cl. 11535) This invention relates to propeller operatingmechanism for vessels, and especially to propeller operating mechanismof that type in which the horizontal shaft carrying the propeller ismounted in a propeller housing that in turn is mounted to turn about avertical axis for steering the boat.

In many propeller operating mechanisms of this type, the propeller shaftis driven by a vertical driving shaft, and when this is the constructionthe application of power to the vertical driving shaft to rotate thepropeller shaft produces a turning moment in the propeller housingtending to turn it about its vertical axis in the same direction inwhich the driving shaft is turning. The presence of such turning momenton the propeller housing produces an unbalanced condition in thesteering of the boat because such turning moment assists the operationof turning the propeller housing in one direction, but resists theturning movement of the housing in the other direction, thereby makingit more difficult to steer the boat in one direction than in the other.

Various devices have been produced to obviate this difficulty and tocounterbalance the turning moment on the propeller housing which isdeveloped by the application of power to the vertical drive shaft. Someof these devices are shown in the Mathewson Patent No. 2,335,- 577,November 30, 1943, and in my Patents No. 2,499,- 339, February 28, 1950,and No. 2,532,470, December 5, 1950.

It .is the object of the present invention to provide a novel propelleroperating mechanism in which when the power is applied to the verticaldrive shaft for operating the propeller, the propeller housing will besubjected to two opposed turning moments which will cancel or balanceeach other, so that the propeller housing can be turned as easily in onedirection as in the other.

In the drawings, wherein I have illustrated a selected embodiment of theinvention:

Fig. l is a vertical sectional view through a propeller operatingmechanism made in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view through one ofthe hubs of the propeller housing to better illustrate the construction;

Fig. 3 is a side view of the propeller housing with portions of the hubsshowing;

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 44, Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5, Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a plan View showing the manner in which the propeller housingis swung about its vertical axis for steering the boat.

In the drawings, 1 indicates the horizontal propeller shaft on which thepropeller 2 is mounted. This propeller shaft is carried by a propellerhousing 3, the latter having suitable bearings 4 for said shaft. Thepropeller housing is in turn carried by a supporting housing 5 which ismounted on or secured to the stern of the vessel, a portion of which isindicated at 6. The supporting hous upper drive shaft 14, and anotherbevel 2,755,765 Patented July 24, 1956 ing 5 is formed with a recess 7in which the inner end portion of the propeller housing 3 is received,said sup* porting housing having an opening 8 through which the outerend of the propeller housing projects. The propeller housing is formedwith two oppositely disposed vertically extending hub portions 9 and 10,the hub portion 9 extending upwardly through the wall 11 of the recess 7and being mounted in suitable bearings 12 carried by the supportinghousing 5. The lower hub portion 10 extends downwardly through the wall11 of the recess 7 into the supporting housing 5 and is mounted insuitable bearings 13. These hub portions 9 and 10 and their bearingsprovide for the swinging movement of the propeller housing about avertical axis.

The propeller shaft 1 is driven by means of two drive shafts, an upperdrive shaft 14 extending through the upper hub 9 and mounted in suitablebearings 15, and a lower drive shaft 16 extending through the lower hub10 and mounted in suitable bearings 17 therein. The propeller shaft 1has fast thereon a bevel gear 18 which meshes with a bevel gear 19 onthe inner end of the gear 20 on the inner end of the lower drive shaft16.

The two drive shafts 14 and 16 are driven from a common power shaft 21which may be powered by any suitable motor mechanism, and which is shownas mounted in bearings 22 carried by the supporting housing 5. Thedriving connection between the power shaft 21 and the upper drive shaft14 comprises a bevel gear 23 fast onthe upper end of the drive shaft 14and meshing with a bevel gear 24 fast on an intermediate shaft 25 whichis mounted in bearings 26 carried by the supporting housdrive shaft hasfast thereon a bevel gear 29 which meshes with a bevel gear 30 fast onan intermediate shaft 31 which is mounted in suitable bearings 32 car--ried by the supporting housing 5, said intermediate shaft 31 having fastthereon a gear 33 which also meshes with and is driven by the pinion 28.

The power from the power shaft 21 is thus conveyed to the propellershaft through two similar power transmitting connections.

With the construction shown in which the bevel gear 24 of theintermediate shaft 25 is on the upper side of the bevel gear 23, whilethe bevel gear 30 for the intermediate shaft 31 is on the lower side ofthe bevel gear 29, the upper drive shaft 14 and lower drive shaft 16will be rotating in opposite directions. The power transmitted from theupper drive shaft 14 and the bevel gear 19 to the bevel gear 18 willproduce a turning moment in the propeller housing tending to turn it inthe same direction as that in which the power shaft 14 is rotating,while the power transmitted from the lower drive shaft 16 and its bevelgear 20 will tend to produce in the propeller housing 3 a turning momentin the direction in which the shaft 16 is rotating. Inasmuch as twodrive shafts 14 and 16 are rotating in opposite directions, these twoturning moments will balance or cancel out each other, so that thepropeller housing is not subjected to any unbalanced turning moment.

As stated above, the vessel is steered by swinging the propeller housing3 horizontally about its vertical axis and for thus swinging thepropeller housing the upper hub portion 9 has fast thereon a worm gear34 which meshes with a worm 35 on a transversely extending shaft 36 thatis mounted in the supporting housing 5 and which extends through thewall of said housing, as shown at 37 in Fig. 5. The projecting end ofthis shaft carries a sprocket wheel 38 which is connected by sprocketchain 39 with a steering wheel (not shown) and which is mounted in asuitable location on the vessel 6.

Inasmuch as the propeller housing 3 is not subiected to any unbalancedturning moments due to transmission of power to the propeller shaft, thesame effort will be required to turn the propeller housing into eitherdotted line position, Fig. 6, and thus the vessel can be as easilysteered in one direction as in another. It will be understood that theopening 8 in the supporting housing has a sufiicient horizontaldimension to provide for any necessary swinging movement of thepropeller housing for steering the vessel.

I claim:

1. Propeller operating mechanism for vessels comprising an'horizontalpropeller shaft having a propeller thereon, a propeller housing in whichthe propeller shaft is mounted, said propeller housing having an upperand a lower vertically extending hub portion, which hub portions are invertical axial alinement, supporting means in which said hub portionsare mounted for turning about their common vertical axis, a drive shaftextending axially through each hub portion, means for rotating bothdriving shafts, a driving connection between each drive shaft and thepropeller shaft by which torque is transmitted from both drive shafts tothe propeller shaft in the same direction, the turning moment of thepropeller housing about its axis which is developed by transmission oftorque to the propeller shaft from one drive shaft being in the oppositedirection from that developed by transmission of torque to the propellershaft by the other drive shaft, and means connected to one of said hubportions to turn the propeller housing about said vertical axis forsteering the vessel.

2. Propeller operating mechanism for vessels comprising an horizontalpropeller shaft having a propeller thereon, a propeller housing in whichthe propeller shaft is mounted, a supporting housing having an openrecess providing top and bottom walls and in which recess the propellerhousing is partially received, said propeller housing having oppositelydisposed vertically extending upper and lower tubular hub portionsmounted in said top and bottom walls for turning movement about avertical axis,

a drive shaft extending axially through each hub portion,

3. Propeller operating mechanism for vessels comprising an horizontalpropeller shaft having a propeller thereon, a propeller housing in whichthe propeller shaft is mounted, said propeller housing having an upperand a lower vertically extending hub portion, which hub portions are invertical axial alinement, supporting means in which said hub portionsare mounted for turning about their common vertical axis, a drive shaftextending axially through each hub portion, means for rotating bothdrive shafts, a driving connection between each drive shaft and thepropeller shaft by which torque is transmitted from both drive shafts tothe propeller shaft in the same direction, the turning moment of thepropeller housing about its axis which is developed by transmission oftorque to the propeller shaft from one drive shaft being in the oppositedirection from that developed by transmission of torque to the propellershaft by the other drive shaft, a gear element mounted on and rigid withone of said hub elements, and means to actuate said gear element therebyto turn the propeller housing about said vertical axis for steering thevessel.

4. Propeller operating mechanism for vessels comprising an horizontalpropeller shaft having a propeller thereon, a propeller housing in whichthe propeller shaft is mounted, a supporting housing having an openrecess providing top and bottom walls and in which recess the propellerhousing is partially received, said propeller housing having oppositelydisposed vertically extending upper and lower tubular hub portionsmounted in said top and bottom walls for turning movement about avertical axis, a drive shaft extending axially through each hub portion,means to rotate both drive shafts, a driving connection between eachdrive shaft and the propeller shaft by which both drive shafts transmittorque to the propeller shaft in the same direction, a gear elementmounted on and rigid with one of said hub elements and situated withinthe supporting housing, and means to actuate said gear element therebyto turn the propeller housing about said vertical axis for steering thevessel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,165,019 Pedersen Dec. 21,1915

FOREIGN PATENTS 637,613 France Feb. 6, 1928 695,188 France Sept. 29,1939 778,741 France Jan. 2, 1931

